Historically, since Woodrow? Since Wilson (1887), public administration, as a social science with its own legal status, has always had various academic debates and theoretical schools in its evolution for more than one hundred years, and even a "theoretical jungle" situation has appeared; As a kind of "national art", public management practice with complex climate and rich practice will always have structural transformation and institutional innovation in governance arrangements. Since the mid-1990s, in order to meet the needs of the domestic public administration environment and better understand the social and applied characteristics of public administration, the author of this paper has taken the lead in discussing "regional administration" and "regional public administration" in the domestic public administration academic circles. Now it seems that with the tide of globalization and regional integration rolling in, the process of marketization, industrialization, urbanization and modernization in China has accelerated, and the trend of "regionalization" and unbounded problems in traditional society has become more obvious. It is a kind of regional public management different from global governance (international public management), national public management and local public management. What regional public administration faces and needs to solve is the problem of regional public administration, so it is different from the traditional "administrative district administration" and puts forward new challenges and requirements for the governance structure and system construction of government public administration.

I. Problems of regional public interests and their causes

(a) The development of globalization and regionalization has produced a large number of macro and meso regional problems. Since the end of World War II, the world pattern and social ecology faced by public administration have undergone unprecedented changes. At present, mankind is in an all-round transition to an era when globalization and regionalization go hand in hand and complement each other. In the era of rapid globalization and regionalization, many factors and complex backgrounds are intertwined, which have induced and even detonated a large number of "macro-regional public problems" and "meso-regional public problems". On the one hand, with the process of economic globalization and the rise of the new regionalism movement in the world, the regionalization between nation-states has changed from the traditional "surface integration" to "deep integration", and the closed regionalization has changed to a more open regionalization model. In addition, the acceleration of regionalization for political purposes has obviously increased the macro-regional problems between intercontinental countries. Cross-border public issues such as mutual trade and investment, national security, environmental governance, public health, crisis management, and international terrorism governance can no longer be solved by the internal forces of nation-States, and collective decision-making and coordinated actions of most countries or even all countries in the intercontinental region must be sought. On the other hand, with the development of globalization and regionalization, "sub-regions" composed of several neighboring countries or regions have become more interdependent, which has given birth to more unavoidable problems in the central region, such as the cooperative water supply problem in the "New Rouliao" sub-region (adjacent areas of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia). Economic and trade relations, public security and political cooperation in Tumen River basin (adjacent areas of China, DPRK and Russia), economic, political, social and cultural cooperation in Lancang-Mekong region (China, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand), and Guangdong-Hong Kong cooperation under "one country, two systems".

(2) The advancement of marketization has spawned many regional public problems. In the nearly 30 years from 1949 to 1978, China has long implemented a highly centralized centrally planned economic system. The only mechanism for the government to manage social problems is a top-down bureaucratic system, which lacks market and social mechanisms. Therefore, the problem of social justice is often limited to administrative divisions and solved by introverted administrative methods. Since the reform and opening up, especially since China 1992 formally put forward the establishment of a socialist market economic system, the domestic decentralization reform and marketization process have been continuously promoted, and a unified market environment of "playing chess all over the country" is urgently needed; 200 1 China formally joined the WTO, which declared that China's market economy must be in line with the international market mechanism and need to actively or passively accept the fierce competition from domestic and foreign markets. From the political logic of centralization and decentralization, it is a good thing for the central government to implement the policy of economic decentralization under the market economy, which can induce Hayek's so-called spontaneous order to form slowly, and is conducive to mobilizing the initiative and enthusiasm of local actors (including local governments) to develop the economy and participate in market competition. However, due to the lag of the national political system reform and the rule of law construction, and the unsuccessful implementation of the supporting reform of administrative decentralization, the direct consequence of China's market-oriented reform has spawned many new social problems, such as GDP worship and achievements of local governments, vicious competition among local governments, local protectionism and Matthew effect of regional development. These problems in the process of marketization in China not only broke through the rigid shackles of traditional administrative divisions, but also spread to an economic region composed of multiple regions, and exceeded the top-down government governance capacity under the planned system, resulting in regional public problems. In this case, the traditional rigid rules of administrative division are not enough, which urgently needs the birth of a new governance mechanism of regional public management.

(c) The advancement of industrialization and urbanization has caused thorny regional public interest issues. In the past 20 years, the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization in China has led to the spatial reorganization and agglomeration of social problems, which has also spawned complex regional problems. Mainly in: 1. Urban-rural dual structure. China is a country with a farming history of more than 2,000 years. At present, more than 60% of the population are farmers. Therefore, the pressure of rural urbanization is huge, and it is also a long way to go to solve the dual structure of urban and rural areas. We believe that the dual structure of urban and rural areas in China, in a sense, is a problem that there are short-term institutional differences between two different political and administrative regions, which are difficult to bridge, and then need institutional coordination, institutional innovation and institutional reconstruction between the two functional regions. From this point of view, the dual structure of urban and rural areas in the transitional period is worthy of long-term theoretical and empirical research on regional public management, such as the phenomenon of "pseudo-urbanization", the problem of "villages in cities", the problem of farmers losing land, the problem of changing villages to live, the supply of community public goods and so on. 2. Reform of administrative divisions. From the perspective of historical development, the adjustment and change of chinese administrative division seems to be an eternal topic for thousands of years. Especially since the reform and opening up, with the promotion of marketization, industrialization and urbanization, the changes and adjustments of administrative divisions in China are particularly frequent. In a sense, the reform of administrative divisions has become a contest between political power and governance authority in regional space and a redistribution process within the government system, which hides a multi-dimensional interest game relationship and involves the deep-seated crux of public management. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the study of public management discipline vision. 3. Watershed management. From the natural area, the basin is a highly integrated area, and the natural elements in the basin are closely related, especially the upstream and downstream. However, from the perspective of administrative regions, river basins are incomplete and often divided by different administrative regions. Especially under the dual pressure of marketization and industrialization, local governments, driven by economic interests, become the main body of independent interests in the basin. Therefore, there are irreconcilable contradictions and even conflicts between the public welfare requirements of river basin management (such as environmental protection, industrial coordination, urban planning, etc.). ) and the utilitarian motives of local governments (mainly economic development, fiscal and taxation indicators, late difficulties, etc. ). In a word, the regional public problems caused by river basin management are very difficult, but they need to be solved urgently.

(D) In the process of modernization, the problem of regional public interest is becoming more and more serious. From the perspective of modernization process and development theory, from the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty and the spread of Western learning to the East, to the "four modernizations" after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and then to the unbalanced and coordinated regional development since the reform and opening up, China's modernization cause has experienced more than a hundred years of wind and rain in modern times and has made great achievements so far. Undoubtedly, as China is a late-developing and catching-up modernized country, compared with western developed and modernized powers, China's comprehensive modernization level is still very low, and it is basically in the stage of "classic modernization". Compared with the "re-modernization" or even ultra-modernization level of developed countries, it is a far cry from each other. What is particularly striking is that China is a country with a seriously unbalanced development, and there is a huge gap between the internal modernization level and the development level in the spatial region, which has produced a series of regional public problems related to the development future of the country or region. These problems mainly include: 1. There are obvious gaps in the level of economic development, system civilization, social development and competitive advantages among the eastern, central and western regions of China, forming a development gap between developed regions, sub-developed regions and underdeveloped regions. 2. The development dilemma of stagflation and structural depression in the old industrial bases in Northeast China and some provinces with good industrial bases in central China highlights the situation of "problem areas". 3. The modernization level of the old, less, marginal and poor areas is not optimistic, and there is a "Matthew effect" trend of widening the gap with the coastal areas. 4. The regional development gap in some developed coastal provinces is increasingly prominent, especially in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and Fujian.

The author thinks that from the interactive logic of China's regional development and public management, in a sense, it can be said that the biggest challenge facing China's public management in the 2/kloc-0 century is the challenge of coordinated regional development. If the above-mentioned series of regional public problems are handled and solved, the development vision of a harmonious society will not be far away.

Second, the lack of government system in the management of regional public issues in China.

At present, both the theoretical and practical departments of public affairs management in China lack systematic theoretical thinking and operational strategies for the governance of regional public affairs; The most important thing is that there are still many loopholes and deficiencies in the system design and system chain of government public management in China, which makes it difficult to be competent for the legal, reasonable and efficient governance of regional public issues. These shortcomings are mainly:

(A) the idea of administrative governance is deeply rooted. As we all know, China has a feudal bureaucratic tradition of several thousand years and a sense of "great unity" in governing the country. For the management of social problems, rulers of past dynasties used to simplify complex problems. After the founding of New China, a highly centralized planning system has been implemented for decades, and the governance concept of "simplification of the country" has been strengthened. From the technical aspect of governance, these traditional governance characteristics of our government can be summarized as "administrative district administration". The so-called administrative district administration is simply based on the rigid constraint of the administrative boundary of the unit. The management of social public affairs by the nation-state or local government is a form of government governance formed in the state of cutting, closing and binding. It has the following basic characteristics: 1. From the social background of government governance, the administrative district adapts to the basic demands of agricultural civilization and industrial society, and is the product of closed society and spontaneous order. It originated from the self-sufficient small-scale peasant economic base in agricultural society and conformed to the tradition of autocratic government rule. Since the industrial society, the stable "bureaucracy" structure based on Weber's "modern rationality" has given full play to the administrative model of administrative districts. 2. From the perspective of the value orientation of government governance, the fundamental feature of district administration is to take the clear boundaries of unit administrative divisions of nation-states or domestic local governments as the starting point of management. This mode of governing the country and local areas according to the artificial division of administrative divisions can be called "inward administration" or "closed administration" mode. The inward-looking administrative model is basically "drawing the land as a prison" and "doing things in their own way", and pays little attention to the "regional public issues" at the boundaries of administrative divisions or across administrative regions. 3. From the governance subject of social public affairs, administrative division is a monopolistic administrative model. In this mode, the government is the only subject to manage public affairs in the national and local administrative areas, and becomes an omnipotent and omnipotent "all-powerful" government, which can foresee and handle all social public affairs, formulate various public policies and supervise their implementation, so as to arrange and handle public affairs in the administrative area of the unit. 4. From the perspective of the operation of public power, the administrative model of administrative districts emphasizes the one-way closed operation of government management power. That is to say, according to the basic rules of hierarchical separation and hierarchical restraint implied by "bureaucracy", the daily operation of government public management power within administrative units is top-down and one-dimensional, thus forming a "pyramid" closed structure with a single authority center. Especially in the centralized and unitary countries, due to the consistent adherence to the political principle of "subordinates obey superiors and localities obey the central government", local governments cut by administrative divisions must strictly follow the rules of the game of "central government → local government", and it is difficult to consciously produce an institutional arrangement of "local government → regional public management * * * local government". 5. From the level design of public governance, top-down level design is the basic law of administrative regions. Specifically, it is to divide the internal social problems into several levels, and then design a hierarchical governance structure with similar institutions and overlapping functions. Obviously, the problem of regional spillover across these levels is not within the vision of hierarchical governance.

(b) The modern regional policy framework has not yet formed. The governance of regional public issues, especially domestic regional issues, needs a set of well-organized, reasonably designed and targeted regional policies as a guarantee framework. Since the founding of New China, the China government has divided the regional scope for many times in different historical periods, and has successively implemented various development strategies such as regional balanced development, regional unbalanced coordinated development and gradient development, and invested a lot of public financial resources. However, the performance of regional development has been relatively low, and it can't reach the ideal goal of policy design. What is the crux of it? Some scholars believe that there is no real regional policy in China so far, which is the main source of the vicious circle of regional development in China [1](P540). The reason is: 1 China has not yet formed a good institutional basis for regional policies. For example, regional policy enforcement agencies are not the product of legislation, and there is no functional department responsible for regional policies. 2. There is no regional division framework for regional policies. For example, China's regional division is sloppy and broad, and it does not have the pertinence and operability to implement regional policies. 3. The regional policy tools are incomplete, and there is no policy for problem areas except poverty alleviation policy. 4. Lack of effective policy monitoring and evaluation mechanism. The author believes that this view actually exposes the misunderstanding and problems of China's regional policy. China really lacks regional policies in the sense of western developed countries. This is because the regional policies of European and American countries have a good foundation of public administration system (including mature market economy, constitutional rule of law, limited government, multiple mechanisms of public administration and so on). ), and the regional policy process in China has been difficult to have a sound institutional foundation, a well-designed regional division of labor framework and operability due to the influence of many factors such as long-term governance, centralized system, all-round government and distorted market economy. Therefore, the symptoms of "policy at the top and countermeasures at the bottom", "policy division" and "policy struggle" have become common phenomena in the process of regional policy in China.

(3) The specific institutional arrangement of regional public management is not perfect. In addition to the above two problems, the lack of government system in China's regional public management is manifested in the imperfection of many specific institutional arrangements. Mainly: 1. It is necessary to improve the institutional arrangements for managing public issues in macro and meso regions. The most successful example of "deep integration" process and macro-regional governance in the world is "EU". In contrast, the macro-regional governance structure and institutional framework of China and Asia-Pacific countries or sub-regions with neighboring countries are still in the stage of exploration and development, which needs the active participation and improvement of the China government. 2. The institutional arrangements to solve the widespread local protectionism and vicious competition among local governments in China are very fragile and have become the focus of the overall economic performance of the country and the region. 3. There are many disadvantages in the management system of the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Pearl River and Huaihe River basins in China, especially the water right system, ecological compensation mechanism, interest coordination mechanism and intergovernmental relations. 4. The regional coordination mechanism is not perfect, such as the mayor's joint meeting system, the regional public infrastructure coordination system, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao joint meeting system under "one country, two systems", the Pan-Pearl River Delta regional coordination system, the inter-provincial regional public coordination system and so on. 5. The problems in administrative division adjustment and spatial planning are prominent, the policy is arbitrary and the chief executive has strong will, and there is no institutional restraint mechanism based on the constitutional system and the principle of rule of law. 6. In the process of urbanization, the dual structure of urban and rural areas is prominent, and there is no effective system integration mechanism between urban and rural areas.

Third, the basic path of regional public management system innovation

(A) the change of governance concept: from administrative region to regional public management. To innovate the government system in regional public affairs management, we must first break through the lack of administrative areas with the rigid constraints of unit administrative divisions and government rule as the essence, and establish new ideas for regional public affairs management. 1. On the social background of government governance, regional public management is the product of an open society and a seamless society, which caters to the needs of globalization and regionalization and responds to the general trend of marketization, industrialization and modernization. Under such a complicated social ecology with contingency, risk and uncertainty, social affairs show a trend of high penetration, and the regional and even global society forms an interdependent state of "you have me and I have you", and the "breadth" and "depth" of regionalization and regionalization have multiplied unprecedentedly. 2. On the value orientation of government governance, regional public management takes public issues and public affairs as its value orientation, not the cutting of administrative divisions as its starting point. It abandons the disadvantages of traditional "inward-looking administration" or unilateral administration, pursues the concept of "regional administration" and cooperative governance, and brings a large number of "spillover" problems and "regional" public affairs that cross national boundaries and administrative divisions into its own management scope, thus realizing hierarchical governance and subdivision governance of social public affairs. 3. On the subject of social public affairs governance, the subject of regional public affairs management is diversified. It includes not only official government organizations, but also unofficial non-governmental organizations and private sector, covering ethnic governments, central governments, local governments and their consortia in the region, as well as regional diversified non-governmental organizations, voluntary organizations and economic organizations, forming a new pattern of regional government, civil society, private sector and other multi-subjects governing regional public affairs. 4. In the running direction of public power, the management of regional public power depends on multiple, decentralized and interactive power institutions, which are cooperative networks and overlapping relationships. It mainly realizes the common governance of regional public affairs through cooperation, coordination, consultation, partnership and establishing the goal of collective action. The essence of this co-governance lies in the mutual cooperation based on market principles, public interests and recognition. In short, according to the size of regional boundaries, we can divide modern regional public management into three types: inter-country regional public management, sub-regional public management and domestic public management (see table 1).

(2) Innovation of governance mechanism: from bureaucracy to inter-organizational network system. On the governance mechanism of public affairs, the concept of regional public affairs management holds that there is no absolute "magic bullet" that can radically cure all kinds of complex public affairs, especially regional public affairs. The traditional bureaucratic system has been unable to meet the challenge of regional public problems. Therefore, for different levels and types of regional public problems, we must realize "multi-centralization" with the help of mixed mechanisms such as bureaucracy, market mechanism and self-organizing system, and form a new mechanism for regional public problem governance based on cross-organizational networks. Like the famous scholar Joseph? John D donahue pointed out: "The biggest feature of globalization is networking, so these governance mechanisms should also be networked, not hierarchical." "Governance will still be centered on the nation-state. State power and the distribution of power between countries are still very important ... However, the old image of "state" may be more and more unrealistic, because the connection between state institutions and the private sector and the third sector is becoming more and more networked, and it is difficult to distinguish each other. Cross-governmental and transnational relations networks will become more and more important. " [2](P 13) The most successful inter-organizational network governance model is the regional governance of the European Union. Beat, an expert on public management in the European Union? Kohler-Koch believes that the organizing principle of collective will and the concept of constitutionalism are two components that distinguish social and political systems. Therefore, according to their different combinations, four different types of governance mechanisms can be distinguished (see Table 2); Among these four types of governance, France is generally labeled as "nationalism", the United States is famous for its "pluralism", Switzerland is a model of "harmony" and the European Union is a model of "interweaving" (that is, network governance). On this basis, there are domestic scholars interested in Beate? Kohler-Koch's four governance mechanisms are further explained and their main characteristics are summarized (see Table 3). Thus, the governance mechanisms of nationalism, pluralism and corporatism are mainly applicable to the government of a nation-state or administrative region, while the network governance mechanism is applicable to a specific transnational or cross-administrative region. These characteristics are also the same as the main characteristics of regional public management analyzed above.

(3) Construction of institutional basis: from "simplified state" management to "accurate state" management. Judging from the present situation, the institutional foundation of regional public affairs management in China is very weak. Due to the lack of corresponding institutional system to meet the needs of regional public affairs management, the government still follows the thinking concept and method of "national simplification" in the management of regional public affairs. The so-called simplified state management refers to a "fake, big and empty" public problem management system designed under a highly centralized planning system due to the extreme rationality of state bureaucrats. Under this system logic, the policy is arbitrary, the system design is seriously divorced from reality, and there is no maneuverability and pertinence. In short, the simplified management of the state is a kind of governance arrangement in which bureaucrats abuse state power and simplify complex social problems in the case of overconfidence [5](P3). The simplified management system of the country is difficult to cope with the governance demands of regional public problems. Therefore, it is necessary to learn from the "national refinement" management system of developed countries. The so-called national precise management refers to a meticulous, meticulous and legal management system designed by administrative bureaucrats in mature market economy countries under the drive of limited rationality.

For example, taking the institutional basis of regional development as an example, in order to determine the benefit areas of structured funds and other regional policy tools, EU authorities have formulated the NUTS region. The whole EU region is divided into three NUTS levels, each member country is divided into 1 or above NUTS- 1 region, each NUTS- 1 region is divided into 1 or above NUTS-2 region, and the NUTS-2 region is further divided into several NUTS-3 regions. At the same time, there are at least three kinds of regional problems corresponding to backwardness, depression and inflation, namely, backwardness, depression and inflation. For another example, as far as the institutional basis of regional development in Britain is concerned, England, one of the most important islands in Britain, has been divided into nine standard regions, and nine regional development bureaus (RDAs) have been set up respectively, and sub-level or even more regional divisions have been carried out under the nine RDAS, thus making the governance of regional problems more targeted and the tools and strategies more operable. On the other hand, in China or some provinces in China, the institutional basis of regional coordinated development policy is still relatively weak, which is manifested in: the policy is arbitrary and there is no consistent regional policy framework for sustainable development; The division of regions is very simple and general, and changes greatly, so it is difficult to really determine the benefit scope of regional policies; There is not a relatively independent regional management institution with the foundation of constitutionalism and rule of law, and so on.

(d) Regional policy innovation: from internal policy to regional public policy. Traditionally, the central government or local government in China only has domestic or local internal policies, but lacks regional public policies aimed at foreign countries and regions. To innovate the government system of regional public management, the important content is to realize the transformation from internal policy to regional public policy.

1. Policy integration among countries. Policy integration means that the government intends to take measures beyond the scope of national treatment to reduce the negative effects of market segmentation brought by the management system by adjusting, coordinating or mutually recognizing national policies and implementation mechanisms. At present, international regional integration arrangements, such as the Closer Economic Relations Agreement (CER) between the European Union (EU) and Australia and New Zealand, are a model of policy integration among countries. Through the coordination of domestic policies, the coordination of national standards and regulations, and the recognition of foreign management systems and standard evaluation procedures, policy integration among countries can obtain rich economic benefits, mainly including reducing transaction costs, opening wider to the outside world and increasing fair competition in the domestic market, "internalizing" external spillover effects, and the compensation mechanism for members who practice free trade [6](P97). Therefore, the government of China should actively participate in the ASEAN Free Trade Area "10+ 1" and realize policy integration with these countries as soon as possible.

2. "Sub-regional" integration policy for political purposes. The "sub-regional" integration arrangement formed by several neighboring nation countries or regions and the implementation of "club rules" among several member countries can provide regional political public goods such as national security, peaceful environment, political system beneficial to some societies, and the formation of democratic values. This "sub-regional" integration policy can reduce the friction between neighboring countries, relieve social and political pressure, consolidate democracy and political system, and enhance the negotiation and bargaining power of "weak regimes", such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization established by China, Russia and several Central Asian countries, and the Greater Mekong Subregion Cooperation Organization formed by China and Southeast Asian countries.

3. Implement regional functional policies. (1) Competition policy. Under the condition of modern market economy, competition policy plays an extremely important role in regional economic integration, building a unified big market and eliminating vicious competition among governments. For example, in the EU, competition policy is regarded as the third pillar of the European single market, because its purpose is to ensure the harmonious and orderly development of fair competition in the European single market by eliminating all acts that hinder, restrict or distort free competition within the EU [7](P 13). EU competition policy has a solid legal foundation. However, the legal basis of China's current competition policy is far from perfect. Except for Articles 7 and 30 of the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on Anti-Unfair Competition (1993), there are few other laws concerning competition between local governments and local protection. Therefore, in order to standardize the reasonable competition among local governments in China and eliminate the phenomenon of local protectionism, it is necessary to construct the legal basis of competition policy. (2) Regional (regional) development policy. This policy aims at coordinating regional development and narrowing the development gap between regions. As mentioned above, regional policies must have a solid institutional foundation as a guarantee. For example, the EU's regional policy has three essential aspects: the European Regional Development Fund (which later developed into a rich fund system including development funds, structural funds and cohesion funds), the policy institutions involved in regional issues (mainly including the European Investment Bank, the European Social Fund, the European Coal and Steel Company and the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund), and the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund. It can be seen that independent funds, specialized functional institutions and coordination among regional policies are the basis for ensuring the effective implementation of regional development policies. Therefore, in the cause of regional coordinated development, our government must attach importance to this issue.